Well we have finally found our rhythm again. It's taken a few weeks to settle back into our every day life! There are chores to be done and fun things to do in the kitchen.
I bottled a batch of onions. There is nothing more delicious than some really sharp cheese and a great pickled onion! Add a slice of home made bread and you have a ploughman's lunch.
I've experimented and bottled some beetroot. I'm not sure if it will be a success. We'll open a bottle in another month or so and give it a taste test. My grandmother used to bottle beetroot. It's one of the memories I have of her. It was delicious.
It rained a lot in February! Melbourne had flash floods. Victoria is flooding. There is water everywhere. Our Summer has been short. February usually has an average of around 8 days where the temperature is over 35 degrees. Well we only had 4 days like this this year.
Lazy Sunday afternoon.....
Our garden has provided us with lovely tomatoes and flowers this Summer. We have picked close to 20kgs of tomatoes. All sizes and varieties. We've eaten Italian bread salad, bruschetta and beautiful salads. I've oven dried a batch of tomatoes too.
Another lovely weekend with our friends John and Norma. This is how we spent a few afternoons... Wine and conversation. Just perfect.
A drive to Warnambool meant we had to stop at a local patchwork shop on the way home. Here the men are waiting patiently for us....
And then we had the 'event'! Stephen was finally getting rid of his lovely locks. He and Sara raised money for the Leukemia Foundation's Shave for a cure charity event. We had a bunch of people over. Got some snags going on the barbie and then the action began.
Stephen has some very supportive mates! They all had a go at shaving his head!
Then Sara got her hair sprayed pink! Here is Johnny. He showed no mercy!
And the final result! A very different looking couple from half an hour before!
Frans and I decided to make some boerewors. South African sausage. What a mission. It takes ages to prep the meat.
The first stage is the mincing. Add all the spices.
Second stage is sending the mince through the skins. And viola! 8kgs of sausage meat.
And then I decided to see what the potatoes were doing in the bag I'd planted them in. Well, as you can see... not much! I have another bag which I'm leaving for a few more weeks. Hopefully I'll get bigger potatoes and maybe a few more! And the garlic... what a sad story.... Three tiny little nuggets! The shallots are better. I have a good harvest of these. And lots of tomatoes. So all in all, this Summer has been fruitful. My friend Sue bottled some lemons and gave me a bottle. Preserved lemons are great in Moroccan cooking. Or in salads. If you havn't tried them, then I'd reccommend you have a go. Delicious!
And finally, I tried my hand again at making my own pasta. I have tried a few times and I've always got myself into a sticky mess. But this time I followed a few rules and the result was SUCCESS! And it tasted good too! It was good to see how the Italian aunts did this. So thanks Zia Lisa and Zia Emelda!
It's amazing what you find when you clean out an old fabric suitcase. I started making quilt squares about 12 years ago when we were living in Brisbane. We had painted Sara's bedroom and I was making a quilt for her bed. But we ended up moving. And the squares were put aside and forgotten about. Well, I pulled them out this week and ironed them. There were enough blocks to make two little baby quilts. So I got stitching again....
The quilt is finished. I'll put up a photo of the finished project next time!
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